What do teeny-tiny pianos and the Cat in the Hat Songbook have in common? They are part of this year’s Toy Piano Festival!

The popular fest, now in its 17th year, will feature two performances this fall, the first at Geisel Library in the Seuss Room on September 5 at noon, and a special collaboration with the San Diego Public Library on Sunday, September 10 at 2:30 pm in the Neil Morgan Auditorium.

Since 2000, the UC San Diego Library has hosted the Toy Piano Festival every September, to pay homage to the September 5 birthday of John Cage, the first composer to write a serious work for toy pianos. In May of 2001, the Library of Congress issued a subject heading and call number for toy piano scores, at the request of Paulson, the Toy Piano Collection, and the events at Geisel Library. The call number is: M 175 T69.

The toy piano collection at Geisel Library consists of commissioned scores, literature and recordings, and actual toy pianos, ranging from simple four-note novelty keyboards to three-octave baby grands. A selection of toy piano scores and instruments will be on stage at the San Diego Public Library event.

Both performances are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Scott Paulson at spaulson@ucsd.edu or (858) 822-5758.

Join us Saturday, August 26 for an outdoor film screening of the 1922 silent movie The Electric House starring Buster Keaton and the 1923 short film It’s a Gift.

The films feature live music and sound effects by the Library’s very own Scott Paulson.

Both films explore early Hollywood’s fascination with mechanisms and inventions wreaking havoc to comic effect. The event takes place on the front lawn of Wisteria Cottage at La Jolla Historical Society.

Bring low chairs and a picnic dinner for a fun evening under the stars! The lawn opens at 7:00 pm and films start at 8:00 pm.

In addition, the evening will include footage filmed for a documentary of Balboa Park’s 1915-16 Panama California Exposition titled A Glimpse of the San Diego Exposition, as well as Fatty Arbuckle and Mabel Normand careening down the Prado in a madcap electric car inFatty and Mabel at the San Diego Expo.

Silents Under the Stars is a collaboration between the UC San Diego Library and the La Jolla Historical Society.

Set in iconic Geisel Library, fundraiser will support growth of ‘smart’ learning spaces

She first took the world by storm as an international best-selling author. Then, she became known as a fierce champion of the corner bookstore, those nearly extinct havens for bibliophiles who cherish the opportunity to talk about and be around books. Ann Patchett will share her remarkable life and work as a New York Times bestselling author, independent bookstore owner and literary advocate on Friday, Sept. 8, as part of the University of California San Diego’s Dinner in the Library, an annual benefit to support the UC San Diego Library.

“An Evening with Ann Patchett” will take place in UC San Diego’s iconic Geisel Library building from 6-9:30 p.m. All proceeds will support the Geisel Library Revitalization Initiative, an initiative to transform and revitalize the interior public spaces of Geisel Library. Because of the significance of the initiative to student learning and the campus overall, Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla will match gifts raised up to $1 million, doubling the impact of donations.

“Support from Dinner in the Library makes an incredible impact on our ability to sustain and grow the UC San Diego Library as a hub of discovery and learning for our campus and community,” said Chancellor Khosla. “As the intellectual heart of our university, the Library helps spark the groundbreaking work of our faculty and students, whose breakthroughs make waves across the globe.”

Patchett is the author of seven highly acclaimed novels, including Bel Canto, which received the Orange Prize and the prestigious PEN/Faulkner Award, as well as Commonwealth, State of Wonder and The Magician’s Assistant. She has also written three books of nonfiction, including Truth & Beauty, What Now? and This is the Story of a Happy Marriage. She has received numerous awards and fellowships, from the Book Sense Book of the Year to a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Read more…

Since its creation in 1982, the Senior Fellows Program at UCLA has identified and developed many academic library leaders who have gone on to distinguished careers. Upon the retirement of longtime director Beverly Lynch, professor of information studies, UC San Diego’s University Librarian, Brian Schottlaender, will come on board as its new director. In addition, the program will become a collaborative effort of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, the UCLA Library and Ithaka S+R, a nonprofit that provides guidance to the academic community.

The fellows program combines management perspectives, strategic thinking and practical and theoretical approaches to the issues confronting academic institutions and their libraries. During the three-week residential program, fellows listen to lectures, review case studies, attend field trips and participate in group study sessions. Of some 250 alumni, nearly half have gone on to positions as library directors.

“It’s truly my privilege to follow in the footsteps of Beverly Lynch, who has contributed so much toward the development and success of the Senior Fellows Program,” said Schottlaender. “I look forward to leading the program — in collaboration with our new partners — and am eager to help shape the next generation of library leaders in the academic world.”

Schottlaender, who will retire as UC San Diego’s University Librarian on June 30, was a member of the Senior Fellows Program’s 1995 class. Read more…

The Virtual Private Network (VPN) service will soon become the sole campus-supported way for UC San Diego affiliates (currently enrolled students and faculty/staff) to access the wide breadth of Library resources—including e-journals, e-books, databases, and electronic reserve materials—from off-campus. The campus will soon discontinue the existing web proxy server, and as a result, users who are currently accessing the server through their internet browser will need to change their set-up and move to the VPN. Because the web proxy server is a passive system, many users may be unaware that they are connecting to Library resources via this method. By downloading the VPN software now, Library users can ensure undisrupted access. More information and instructions can be found at library.ucsd.edu/computing-and-technology/connect-from-off-campus. If you have trouble accessing a Library resource or have other questions, Ask A Librarian.

In case you didn’t notice, the Library recently launched a redesigned website with a more modern look and feel that is user-friendly across all devices.

We based a lot of our changes on the results of multiple User Experience studies as well as on feedback received via surveys taken by students, faculty, and staff. We appreciate those who took the time to participate in these studies, and we thank you for your efforts.

Here’s some of what’s new:

A new “Search” panel with the most frequently used resources right up front so users can quickly access journals, databases, research guides or other materials

Updated styling based on the UC San Diego campus templates and graphics. This means our new site displays better on screens of any size and easily conforms to accessibility standards

Tip: Many of our URLs have changed. If you have specific pages from our site bookmarked or linked in web pages of your own, you’ll want to use the website search function to get the new URLs. If you have any questions at all about where to find your favorite page(s), please contact us.

The FORCE11 Scholarly Communications Institute (FSCI), will hold a week-long summer training program designed to help researchers, administrators, librarians, and others navigate the ever changing and increasingly complex scholarly communications landscape. The program, which is being hosted by the UC San Diego Library, will be held at the university’s Institute of the Americas complex from July 31 through August 4, 2017.

FSCI@UCSD will incorporate intensive coursework, seminar participation, group activities, lectures, and hands-on training, featuring leading world experts, practitioners, and theorists specializing in various aspects of scholarly communication. Some 30 courses will be offered—from the introductory to the cutting edge—on topics ranging from building an open and information-rich research institute, data across domains, and understanding metrics, to reproducibility and crowdsourcing. Courses will also be offered on online image and reputation management, peer review, and tools and technology, as well as a primer, scholarly communication 101. Courses are aimed at different audiences, including students, researchers, administrators, funders, librarians, and publishers, as well as other information professionals.

Participants will also have the opportunity to discuss and learn more about the latest trends in Open Access and data management, and gain expertise in new technologies in research flow, new forms of publication, new standards and expectations, and the new ways of measuring and demonstrating success that are transforming science and scholarship.

FORCE11 (Future of Research Communications and E-Scholarship) is a global community of researchers, students, librarians, publishers, funders and scholars interested in the future of scholarship. FSCI provides access to needed training, skills development, and expertise on effective ways of working in and navigating the evolving research communication sphere.

The Library will launch a redesigned website on June 20, 2017. The basic design of our current site was done about seven years ago, so we are due for a refresh.

We based a lot of our decision-making on the results of several rounds of User Experience studies as well as on feedback we’ve received in faculty/staff and student surveys. If you participated in a survey, an interview or an online user test, thank you!

Here’s some of what’s new:

A new “Search” panel with the most frequently used resources right up front so you can get to your journals, databases, research guides or other materials quickly

Updated styling based on the UC San Diego campus templates and graphics. This means our site will now work better on screens of any size and conform better to accessibility standards

Some things are not changing – the following sections of our site will still work and look the same:

Library catalogs

Databases and other e-resources provided by outside vendors

Subject and course guides

Digital Collections site

Tip: Many pages will be getting new URLs. If you have specific pages from our site bookmarked or linked in web pages of your own, you’ll want to use the website search function to get their new URLs after the launch. If you have any questions at all about where your favorite page(s) went after June 20th, please contact us.

When World War II came to a close in 1945, the U.S. Government recruited a few leading German scientists, who it judged could contribute to America’s space and military programs. In addition, the rationale was that if the government hadn’t done this, these top scientists, along with their scientific knowledge and military secrets, would have been swept up by the Soviet Union. Journalist Eric Lichtblau, uncovers a series of much more disconcerting findings in his 2014 book, The Nazis Next Door: How America Became a Safe Haven for Hitler’s Men, which reveals that the U.S. allowed approximately 10,000 Nazis—some of whom were directly involved in heinous and genocidal acts—to immigrate and take up residence in the U.S.

Lichtblau, a veteran investigative reporter with CNN, will be the featured speaker at the Wednesday, June 7 Holocaust Living History Workshop (HLHW), a collaboration between the UC San Diego Library and the UC San Diego Jewish Studies Program. The June 7 event is sponsored by William & Michelle Lerach, and will take place from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Price Center East Ballroom on the UC San Diego campus. The event is free and open to the public, and will be preceded by a 4:30 p.m. reception. Reservations must be made in advance; to reserve tickets click here.

Investigative Journalist, Eric Lichtblau

Lichtblau recently joined CNN, as a member of its investigative team, where he has been a lead reporter covering recent events related to the Trump campaign, its ties to Russia, and the recent firing of FBI Director James Comey. Before joining CNN’s Washington bureau, Lichtblau was a reporter for The New York Times, where he has covered national security, money-and-politics, law enforcement, and other national issues, since 2002. Previously, he spent 15 years as an investigative and legal affairs reporter at the Los Angeles Times. Lichtblau has been the recipient of numerous awards for his work, and in 2006, he won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting—with James Risen—for breaking the story of the secret wiretapping program authorized by President Bush, weeks after the September 11 attacks. The story and follow-up articles triggered a national debate about the balance between national security and civil liberties, and led to a rewriting of federal intelligence law. He has also written investigative pieces on political corruption scandals, the Wikileaks files, and the Edward Snowden-NSA revelations. Read more…

Need a book from the Library but don’t have time to traverse the stacks? The UC San Diego Library has made it easier than ever for students, faculty, and the rest of the campus community to access print collections with the newly reinstated paging service and Self-Service Hold Shelves.

You can now browse materials online and request available items via Roger, the Library catalog. After submitting your request, Library staff will retrieve your materials and make them available for pick-up on the newly installed Self-Service Hold Shelves near the Front Desks in both the Geisel and Biomedical Library Buildings, saving you the time and effort of traversing across areas of the Library searching for needed materials. For those of you who enjoy browsing books in the stacks, you may certainly continue to do so.

Once you collect your requested items from the Self-Service Hold Shelves, you may then check out the materials via one of the adjacent self-checkout machines. However, if you have questions or wish to speak to library staff, you can take your items to the nearby Front Desk for check out.

Our goal is that these new services will streamline the library experience for users, resulting in the quick, no-hassle retrieval of materials. Library staff are always on hand to answer questions and assist with the process. Stay tuned for a survey link in which you can provide us with feedback and suggestions to improve the new services.

Immediate questions about the paging service can be directed to staff by calling (858) 534-0134 or contacting LibraryBorrowing@ucsd.edu.